In about a week's time a number of Brits will be representing their colleges in the national year-end team finals (64 teams). Following on from that are the national individual championships. Several Brits will be represented in the 64 draw (32 dubs)
WS
Natalie Beazant, Sophie Watts
WD
Elizabeth Thoms, Joanna Henderson
MS
Jack Findel-Hawkins, Lloyd Glasspool, Farris Gosea, Cameron Norrie with Ben Lott on the ALT list
MD
Alex Gasson, Jordan Angus, Julian Cash, Lloyd Glasspool with Cameron Norrie on the ALT list
Julian Cash (6), Lloyd Glasspool, Cameron Norrie, Connor Glennon, Alex Gasson, Jordan Angus, Tom Colautti, Max Andrews, Jack Findel-Hawkins, Josef Dodridge
Women
32 - Natalie Beazant - Rice
74 - Joanna Henderson - Tennessee
85 - Sophie Watts - Fresno
87 Daneika Borthwick - Florida State
125 - Sabrina Federici - Texas Tech
Dubs
Joanna Henderson, Alicia Barnett, Brigit Folland, Elizabeth Thoms
And still is Japanese, which is why I haven't included her but yes, she was brought up in the UK and has been very much part of its junior tennis scene. Went to Oklahoma in the autumn and has been doing exceptionally well there. Playing at 1 her win / loss is 24 / 7
Seeking distraction, I glanced at ZooTennis's tweets, which indicated that Cameron Norrie's university was in a very tight contest with the top-ranked team in their section of the team championships. They lead 3-1 and need to win one of the three remaining matches - one of which involves Mr Norrie - to move into the next stage. One can follow at @TCUMensTennis. Looks rather exciting!
Edit: As I wrote this, they won. Rather good for my work. Mr Norrie, for the record, was ahead but didn't finish his match.
-- Edited by Spectator on Saturday 16th of May 2015 06:12:34 PM
Good to see Norrie and his team doing well, reaching the final four. I've got big hopes for him, he has had some decent results when playing on the tour. There is no reasons I have found so far to suggest he should not be ultimately aiming to reach the top 100 one day.
Actually, having been inspired by you, Optimist, to look at the lists, I think that there are some more Brits involved in the university awards - Matt Brooklyn, who is the assistant coach at the University of San Diego, and Ben Dunbar, assistant at the University of New Mexico. Fascinating to see that former pros Paul Goldstein and Stephen Huss are also up for coaching awards (as on the women's side is Laura Granville).
We'll spotted. I must confess it never occurred to me to look at the coaching awards, I just focussed on the players. Not sure I would have picked the named out as Brits though.
Brooklyn has been mentioned on this board at various points; Dunbar I had to check ... half-remembered his name from years and years ago but wasn't sure. One of those moments when you realise you've been on the board for far too long!
#32 Natalie Beazant - Rice bt #14 Giuliana Olmos - S California (WTA UNR) 6-2, 6-4
#2 Carol Zhao - Stanford (WTA 289 CH 283) bt #85 Sophie Watts - Fresno 6-0, 6-2
Which means our 3 British winners are now 'All Americans' !!
In dubs, Alex Gasson+, Cameron Norrie+ (beating Jordan Angus+), Lloyd Glasspool+ and Joanna Henderson+ all won their R1 (32) matches. Elizabeth Thoms+ and Jordan+ lost and Julian Cash+ did not appear in the draw.
-- Edited by The Optimist on Friday 22nd of May 2015 01:21:24 PM